Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis will demand an explanation from UEFA after his club were drawn to face Liverpool in the Champions League.
The Reds are in a tough-looking Group C along with the Serie A side, French champions Paris Saint-Germain and Serbian title winners Red Star Belgrade.
De Laurentiis is unhappy that Napoli, who were seeded in Pot 2, will face a Liverpool side who thrashed them 5-0 in a pre-season friendly in Dublin last month.
And the Napoli president is bewildered that Jurgen Klopp’s side were not at the very least in the same pot for the draw, which took place in Monaco last Friday.
“We are bitter, I will ask for an explanation from UEFA,” said De Laurentiis, speaking to Radio Kiss Kiss Napoli.
“Liverpool, Champions League finalists, are put in pot 3? It is a disastrous anomaly.”
Aurelio De Laurentiis looks on prior to during the pre-season friendly match between SSC Napoli and OGC Nice at Stadio San Paolo
(Image: Francesco Pecoraro/Getty Images)
UEFA’s club coefficient is calculated using a team’s European exploits over the previous five season.
Despite reaching the Champions League final last season and the Europa League final two years earlier, the Reds were not in European competition in 2016-17 or 2013-14.
And in 2014-15, they won only one game in being dumped out of the Champions League group stage and were then eliminated from the Europa League at the first hurdle when beaten by Besiktas on penalties.
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